Space Invaders (Arcade)

Space Invaders is one of the most recognizable video games of all time to the point that the pixelated shapes of its alien invaders, the crab-like one in particular, have become symbolic shorthand for the gaming medium as a whole. Cemented in popular culture and even known to those with little knowledge about video games, it’s become emblematic of the early arcade days even if the later games in the series failed to make any huge splashes. However, Space Invaders has more to offer to the gaming world than widespread popularity, this game often credited as introducing difficulty curves to video games. While it would have likely found itself into the medium one way or another, the satisfying sense of progression featured in every game after can possibly be traced back to a game that was going for the simple idea of a player repelling an alien invasion.

In Space Invaders, five rows of aliens numbering eleven to a line descend slowly from above, the player needing to shoot down every single one to safely complete the wave. The aliens come in three designs all loosely resembling aquatic life. The bottom two rows are filled with the 22 octopus aliens, these creatures providing a measly 10 points each when defeated but just as deadly as the other two styles, every alien able to fire down on the player’s cannon and able to destroy it in one shot. Above the nearly two dozen octopus invaders are the face of the franchise, two rows of crab-like aliens offering 20 points each when killed. The final row at the very top is filled with squids, 30 points awaiting you for every one defeated. Besides their point value they are functionally identical, but only ones with a clear shot will try to take one, the aliens refusing to fire through each other. Every one also dies in one hit, but their movement is their greatest asset to staying alive.

When the aliens begin to move, they are slow, the crowded wave easy to handle as it gradually moves from right to left, descending a single line of space every time they hit the border of the screen. As you start defeating the invaders though, they’ll begin to pick up the pace, the aliens speeding up more and more the fewer there are left to fight. What seems like a way of increasing difficulty as you thin the herd is actually the result of a serendipitous design problem. The old school arcade systems couldn’t handle so many animated sprites moving at once, their motion slowing down naturally as the processor struggles to render them. However, as the player clears away enemies, the processor is gradually freed up to render them more quickly, speeding them up as a result and creating the difficulty progression that makes firing upon the alien foes less straightforward. Rather than feeling like shooting slightly moving fish in a barrel, the aliens now feel like they’re growing more desperate and aggressive as their numbers dwindle, the final alien zooming across the screen at such speed that the player has to lead their shot well or risk the alien making it to the bottom. While having your cannon destroyed by an alien shot will only cause you to lose a life, if an alien is able to make it to the bottom, that’s a full Game Over, the player having to restart from scratch if they let the invaders get so far.

Despite this 1978 arcade game being simple because it was created so early in the medium’s history, this video game has a few more touches that tie the experience together. While it’s not true music, the movement of the aliens is accompanied by a steady heartbeat-like sound effect that almost sounds like the rhythm the invaders are marching to. As they pick up their pace, so to does this sound increase in speed, the player not just seeing the incoming danger but hearing it as the pressure mounts to clear the screen before the enemies can reach the bottom. When it’s just one alien left, the sound plays over itself to match that last little enemy’s mad scramble to try and reach you at the bottom and take you out. Color is also featured in some versions of this early video game, most of the play field a black background with white sprites but strips of cellophane add small highlights to important items. Every now and then a red UFO will fly above the alien pack, the player rewarded with extra points if they can work a shot between their foes to shoot down this speedy flyby. The green though is used to indicate the most important object in the entire game: the laser cannon.

The player controls their cannon with three buttons in Space Invaders. Locked to the lowest part of the play field, the cannon moves left and right thanks to two buttons and fires with the third, the speed determined by when the shot disappears. If a shot hits an enemy you can quickly fire again, but if it slips through and flies past, you’ll need to wait for it to disappear at the top of the screen before firing again. Starting with three lives and able to get a fourth with enough points earned, the player’s goal is to survive long enough to wipe out the alien menace, but there are a few other green objects present that can help with the task. Four shields float just above your cannon, neither alien nor cannon able to fire through them initially. When shots from either side impact these small bunkers, they take damage, the player free to use them as cover or even fire up through them to create a fairly safe tunnel to fire on invaders from. These bunkers will get whittled down somewhat quickly though, and if an alien moves through them while descending, they’ll tear through them without any resistance. The incoming shots from the invaders aren’t ever so frequent the shields feel required but they are welcome for what they are, but you even have a way to stop attacks by firing your own shot up at a laser to have them collide and cancel each other out.

Once you have cleared out the first wave of 55 aliens successfully… that’s pretty much it. The game will reset the play area save for your score and life counter and you’ll continue on until you inevitably lose. Every level after the first is just the same arrangement of aliens again but a row lower, the arrangement eventually returning to its original height after seven waves. Early arcade games were incredibly basic in design so it’s not much of a surprise this is the extent of the game’s content, but later releases and games in the series would wisely realize that the fun found in this simple enemy arrangement can be built upon with new invasion layouts, new alien types, and other elements that would motivate you to keep playing beyond that basic search for a high score. The fact the gameplay is limited to one repeating screen is what holds Space Invaders back from being an enduring classic, but it isn’t bad despite this downside. There is still a bit of room to be strategic in Space Invaders, mainly in relation to how the enemies move. You can try to clear out a whole column on the sides first to make aliens take longer to descend and reverse direction, you can clear out the bottom rows early so the fast moving foes are higher up when they get their speed boosts, and deciding if you wish to use your shields or trust your reflexes enough to dodge out in the open will determine which aliens your shots will be able to hit. It’s not complex at all and its mostly a reflex challenge about pressing the attack button with proper timing, but that small difficulty curve means you do have to think and adjust a little to succeed, and while you probably won’t spend too much time at the Space Invaders cabinet, it’s an easy one to come back to without it being so easy it loses its luster.

THE VERDICT: It’s impossible to ignore Space Invaders’s mammoth legacy and importance to the entire video game medium, but looking at its content, it’s mostly just the type of basic fun that made these electronic amusements catch on. One screen of 55 aliens moving faster as their numbers dwindle makes for a brief burst of excitement, but beyond playing through that experience again and again, you’ve already seen all there is to this historic title. The small difficulty curve, a little room for planning, and the reflex challenge means it is enjoyable during its brief moments of freshness, but for anyone outside the most devoted score chasers, it’s just dipping a toe in the video game pool. Your back may be to more interesting arcade delights while playing it, but before you head off to experience the many wondrous forms gaming has taken since 1978, it doesn’t hurt to spend a quarter or two to visit this humble legend.

And so, I give Space Invaders for arcade machines…

An OKAY rating. Perhaps it is appropriate Space Invaders falls in the middle. While not the first game ever, this early hit shows how far we have come from the point where video games could be more than just a few squares moving around pretending to be tennis and how far still we had to go. The little alien sprites have an identity, the sound makes the game feel more intense, and the difficulty progression it became famous for is an element that makes or breaks so many of the games that came after. Technological limitations of the time meant it couldn’t be much more than one tight screen of alien shooting fun, but it did what it could with what it had and was lavished with love for it. When this was one of the few games the world as a whole could even experience it no doubt would have earned incredibly high praise comparatively, but to claim it’s just as riveting now would feel like just an attempt to give a legend its due. Space Invaders is a small bit of fun, the satisfaction of clearing out a wave of aliens achievable enough while the invaders put up a good enough fight that it feels like a victory properly earned. It can’t help that after that first screen there isn’t much to do besides to repeat that process again and again until interest wanes or you lose, but this foundational game has that decent foundation to ensure you can get a brief bit of fun from a quick fling with this arcade staple.

Much and more can be said about Space Invader’s importance and legacy, but when looking at its contents purely from an entertainment standpoint, it’s just a fine bit of old school arcade fun. Its pieces fit together nicely, but it is a product of its time. Not so archaic that it’s bad to modern players, but not so compelling it will impress them either. Space Invaders instead settles into a snug spot of being comfortably decent and a fine little diversion if you have some spare change and the opportunity to test yourself against these iconic little aliens.